Dogs & Children — Avoiding the Danger Zone

Here’s a sobering statistic: did you know that 80% of all dog bites happen to children under five and 80% of those are directly in the face? Ouch! Considering that dogs have become a wildly popular feature of contemporary life, bringing love, companionship, healing, service and a deeper intimacy with life itself both to our [...]

Here’s a sobering statistic: did you know that 80% of all dog bites happen to children under five and 80% of those are directly in the face? Ouch! Considering that dogs have become a wildly popular feature of contemporary life, bringing love, companionship, healing, service and a deeper intimacy with life itself both to our children and ourselves, this is a situation crying out to be addressed.

That being the case, let’s take a quick look at some of the most common and easily overlooked precautions we can implement to safeguard our children’s interactions with dogs.

First, and perhaps of greatest consequence, never, under any circumstances, for any reason leave any child under ten unsupervised with any dog, ever, period (is that emphatic enough?). The truth is that neither party is trustworthy and such permissiveness is the leading cause dog/child disasters. Two examples illustrate the point. Some years ago a family in London euthanized their lab after it had bitten their three-year old in the face while playing alone together. An autopsy revealed dozens of crayons stuffed into the dog’s ears! Around the same time, in the US, a family Rottweiler with no history of aggression nearly killed a two-year old after the child knocked a bag of chips off the table. Mom was ten feet away with her back turned, doing the dishes. The upshot: the dog was euthanized, the mother arrested for child endangerment and the child placed into foster care. I hope you take my point.

Second, teach your child, through ample supervised interactions, how to appropriately touch a dog. Teach him or her not to pull tails, poke around in ears or eyes, ride the dog or torment Fido in any of the endless ways kids seem capable of contriving. At the same time, teach Fido to be tolerant of childlike handling without biting and this way you work in safeguards from both ends.

Third, use caution when approaching strange dogs. Never approach a dog with no owner present. If the owner is present, ask permission to touch the dog and observe both dog and owner. If the owner seems hesitant but says yes, probably best to pass on the interaction. If the dog shows no overt signs of friendliness – wagging tail and a bright eyed look – ditto. Obviously, if the owner says “my dog isn’t friendly,” pass. Duh – but you’d be surprised.
If the dog seems friendly enough, have your child approach the dog halfway, hold a closed hand out and allow the dog to come to him or her. In other words, be sure the dog is interested. Don’t impose an interaction. When actually petting the dog, start under the chin and avoid petting over the head and hugging. Let’s not get too personal too fast.

Fourth, and along a slightly different track, if you have a dog and are expecting your first child, think carefully about the changes you are going to have to implement in your dog’s life because of the arrival of your baby and implement those changes now. The singularly worst thing you can do is make those changes after baby arrives, thus teaching your dog that the arrival of the child meant all kinds of new restrictions in its life. If you want to set up a jealous, competitive dynamic between your child and your dog, that’s the best way to do it.

Of course, there are many other precautions we can take, but these are the major ones that, if diligently applied, would dramatically reduce the unpleasant statistic cited above. So please take note, use common sense and have a great time raising your child in the safe and friendly company of dogs.

- Mike Wombacher